Animals

[Naked~Frog]

Let's have a talk about animals.

 

It can be pets, favorite types of animals, dream pets, etc.

 

I live on a hobby farm with tons of animals. I've always wanted hedgehogs. My favorite animal differs from time to time...

 

What about you guys?

[RandA lThor]

I have never had too many interactions with animals, xcept pests in my house

[Naked~Frog]

Oh I'm sorry... are there any kinds of animals that you would like to interact with?

[Aiel Heart]

My favorite animal is a bald eagle.

 

In my house there are 3 dogs and 2 bunnies.

 

I'd like to someday own a turtle, a salamander, a ferret, a flying squirrel, and a chinchilla.... Maybe even a horse... As well as whatever other animal might cross my path :P I like animals

[Wren of the Brown]

As a kid, I had cats, a dog, a hamster, a guinea pig, a bull snake, and a tarantula (who is not an animal per se but he certainly was fuzzy enough in that regard.)

 

I raise and keep rats and I live with a big, fat black cat named Daniel Ash whose catly farts destroy entire worlds. I tend to favor companion animals over show animals and I occasionally bring in shelter animals if I get the impression they are unwanted. One of my rats was a rescue rat - the previous owner did not realize that when a boy rat and a girl rat put their rat puzzle parts together, they unlock the secret baby rat code. So, the owner fed them high sugar, low nutrition foods like Captain Crunch and chocolate chips and, as I understand it, baby rats were eating other baby rats before the entire sordid mess was sent to the shelter. I ended up adopting the mother and named her Phronesis (Greek for Prudence) - her life was completely lacking in that virtue before that point.

[Ryrin]

Love, love love animals.... dogs especially and I have birds now. I'd love to have a pot bellied pig.

[U4ea]

I was told that my cat had to be the only pet I had at home.

 

Then I bought goldfish for a project at work and most of them died, leaving me with a whopping 5 goldfish. I didn't have the heart to kill them, too, so I bought a decent filter for the tank. My husband enjoyed having a fish tank (even if it was just for some 15 cent goldfish), so he started getting bigger and bigger tanks, better and better filters... until now we have a 50 gallon tank and 2 more goldfish (bringing our total up to 7). He keeps saying we'll get "real fish" when these die, but we read in a little pamphlet that these little comet goldfish can live up to 20 years if they're treated right. *smiles* Ironic that he keeps making sure they're taken care of, isn't it?

 

Being a teacher, it didn't end there. I got a shipment of guppies for another project the following year and had to buy a tank for them. This is really my school tank, but for the last 4 years, now, it has had generation after generation of little guppies in it.

 

I love beta fish, so I bought a little tank a few years ago and put one in it. Then the tank had an accident and I had to get a bigger tank. The fish died, but I still had this 5 gallon tank. So, at the beginning of last school year, I bought another beta for said tank. I brought him home for the summer last year and he never went back to school. That makes him a home pet.

 

This year, though, we got a little crazy with the pets. First, I found a certificate in one of my science kits for hermit crabs. Free ones. So, I mailed it off and they sent me 12 hermit crabs for my classroom. 4 of them have died since then, leaving me 8 crabs. I put the 8 crabs in an old fish tank (that used to belong to the goldfish, oddly enough) and they've been happily molting and climbing all over the place ever since.

 

Then, the custodian found a mediterranian gecko in my science lab and he was cool enough that I caught him. He's been my pampered little buddy ever since. He's about to get a big 30 gallon tank with plenty of stuff to climb on, too. Poor thing will be in heaven!

 

Now, aside from a tank full of aquatic snails (for the same project the goldfish and guppies came from), that's all of the animals presently living in my house/classroom.

 

 

*laughs* I love animals, but I guess you figured that out, didn't you?

 

Husband still says "no other animals until the cat dies" when Peanut begs for a puppy, though. :(

[Naked~Frog]

Wow! Lots of animal lovers!

 

Heart, I hope you get the animals you're dreaming of. (Chinchilla especially! Go Ospenya! :D) What kinds of dogs and bunnies do you have? Do you have any pictures of them?

 

Hia, "whose catly farts destroy entire worlds." I love you for that wording. My cat named Bunny has explosive gas and she only lets it out during cuddles... it's evil. I also love how you worded the rat puzzle, and that's a very clever name I love it. Always great to save animals. We bought one of our rabbits from someone that was about to turn her into soup. Which normally wouldn't be that bad except that she was killing them inhumanely in front of one another, so the bunny was really shy and timid. We named her Honey and she lived a long life on our farm for which I am thankful. Do you have any pictures of your rats? I want to see your guy's pets!

 

Ryrin, What kinds of birds do you have? And my neighbor has pot bellied pigs. Or at least he did, he may have sold them by now since I haven't seen any escaping for a while. That never means he fixed the fence, just that the animal is now gone. Or at least that's how it went with the miniature horses. Do you have a favorite breed of dog?

 

Lor, sounds like my family. We're always told we can't have pets and then we find a way >:). That's so cute that he keeps taking good care of them, he must really love those fish. Who cares if their normal goldfish? If you love them then you love them and that's that :) That'd be cool to own a tank and just watch the fish keep procreating on their own. My sister had some fish that actually gave birth instead of laying eggs. She went behind a rock and suddenly little fish were all over the place! So I'm slightly envious of your guppies... except that I'm not the best at caring for fish, sadly. I used to have a beta fish named Prince Emerald of the Tortoise Stones or something like that. I had named him specifically so that my tank would have my sister's favorite color rocks in it when hers didn't because I am evil like that. My beta fish didn't last as long as I'd have liked though. I like hermit crabs, you should look online and see how to give them baths, it can be fun. That's what I did with the ones I had years ago but I don't anymore, sadly. I used to have some geccos from a pet store, They can be really fun to play with! Your classroom sounds like lots of fun, what grade do you teach? Is Peanut your kitty? I bet your kitty needs a puppy to play with, I hope your hubby changes his mind on that one. Pictures?

[Rune]

I have a dog and a cat, both of which I love more than peoples. I suppose if I could interact with any animal, i closely relate to the wolf so a wolf it would be. Or otters, otters are just way to fun!

[Wren of the Brown]

I have a few pictures of my first three rats and two pictures of the current rats.

 

 

 

 

 

Ker-fluffles, the first rat. Kerfluffle is a Scots word for ruckus or noise and she was a little squeeky steam-powered rat engine who could.

 

Jiffy-Pop, the second rat, showin u my Pokemonz. I named her thus because she would pop out of the rat house like a Whack-a-Mole whenever I was around the cage.

 

Artamisa, the third rat. She was a much more challenging rat to get to know. She had some sort of anxiety issue with being handled but did fine with her exploring time. She died of a broken heart soon after Jiffy-Pop died.

 

Lester, Boy Rat number one. He was trve metal. \m/ -_- \m/ He also killed his cage mate, Oswald Spengler.

 

Diotima - named after the woman who taught Socrates about platonic love in the Symposium. She's shy but warms up quickly.

 

Echolalia - I named her this because she chirps and squeeks back at you when you talk to her.

 

 

 

 

 

My cat; the Calvin Klein ad.

 

 

Farmcat! Into the Future! PHWOOOAR.

[Wren of the Brown]

Also! I almost stepped on a rattlesnake in the dark tonight as he was moving into the field. Nothing says I love you like a snake in a box.

[Naked~Frog]

Hey Rune! I haven't seen you around much! Not sure about wolves, they make dangerous pets... but not as dangerous have wolf hybrids ironically.

 

Their all so cute HIa! I love how you went over their personalities and how they connected to their names :D

 

Also, Farmcat into the future, haha!

[U4ea]

Actually, Peanut is my oldest daughter, though she does a mean impression of a puppy. ;)

 

The guppies actually have live births, too, which is really cool. They have upwards of 20 babies at a time, because the colony (school, whatever you want to call them) will snack on the babies when they come out! Sad, right? They are fast and smart little buggers, though. They dive straight for the rocks and hide until they are too big to be eaten! It's a great conversation starter about survival and adaptations animals have made to their environment! :) This past year, I taught 4th and 5th graders, but next year it will just be 4th graders (they turn 10 in fourth grade, for those of you who have a different school set up). I love that age!

 

The crabs think I am the worst possible mother and hide whenever possible! They are presently buried in the sand (and I hope they're not molting again! I don't think I have enough big shells for them!). :(

[RandA lThor]

I would like to have a nice big dog.

[Naked~Frog]

Oh yeah, getting bigger and bigger shells can be difficult. Although, before the crab goes into them you can decorate the shells with special paints. I have one in a spongebob shell and then he moved to a Batman one :D

[U4ea]

I am so not an artist. I am going to paint one with stick people. Wonder which crab will move into that one... *smirks*

[Wren of the Brown]

Dammit. One of the dogs is dying. It happened pretty quickly and there's not much I can do for him tonight. He's got a blanket and I'll check on him through-out the night. :(

[U4ea]

I'm so sorry! That's a rough thing to watch and be helpless about.

 

*hugs tight*

[Wren of the Brown]

Turns out he had some tumors that were overlooked and it was best to put him down. I'm keeping an eye on the other dog, Chunk - they were from the same litter and have been together for twelve years. Chunk has always been a very protective, nurturing dog and I don't know how he'll do now that Jacob is gone.

 

I've dealt with grieving animals before but I will never be prepared for a grieving dog. They always seem on the verge of words or expression and it's a hard thing to handle. He's getting plenty of attention but it's still obvious ue knows something is different.

 

How have you dealt with grieving animals, oh Kin?

[U4ea]

There's not much you can do, sadly enough. Make sure they get a ton of attention and sympathize when they are upset. We've always been lucky enough that there was another animal around, so they had someone to divert attention to. I've honestly never had to deal with a situation like you're dealing with. *hugs* Mutual support is about as much as I can offer. You comfort him, he comforts you...

[Naked~Frog]

I'm so sorry... I hope he's doing better now. Our dog Brandi was very upset when Sunny died. We just cuddled her a lot and eventually she seemed to perk up more.

[Ryrin]

I had a Golden Retriever. We lived off of a busy street. We had taken in a stray chi-weenie dog. Well he followed me out to the mail box and then saw a dog across the street. He ran to the other side and got hit and died in my arms. My youngest son came out if the house along with Buddy, my Golden. Buddy watched me cry over our dog. For about a month, whenever I cried, Buddy would go get the dead dog's pillow, put it in my lap and then lay his head on my arm.

[Naked~Frog]

Oh I'm so sorry, that's so sad! Cute, but also terrible... I'd hug you but you're too far away...

[U4ea]

I lost two fish last week...

 

My beta, Melvin, that I got at the beginning of my last year in 5th grade died after spending most of the last two months swimming on his side. I had to hand feed him his pellets every morning because he couldn't see them. :(

 

And somehow we went from 7 goldfish to 6 last week. There are no bones, was never a carcas, but Goldie is missing. Peanut has covered the front of the tank in monsters, though. Maybe that has something to do with it, after all...